It's In TeH GaMe !!!

Bravo!! What a courageous performance from the Indian batsmen, especially Gautam Gambhir. Toiling for more than 11 hours under the hot sun is never easy. This makes me remind of Gautam's own surname(Gambhir) which in Hindi means serious, which he remained throughout his innings of 137. It's one of the most spectacular comebacks I have ever seen or heard of. Seriously, not many would have expected a draw once the bails were dislodged by the umpires to call it stumps on Day 3. And again, India has proved the majority wrong. That majority who would have put their money on Kiwis must be thinking how in this world did New Zealand manage to loose their best chance to level the series?


Jesse Ryder's efforts were in vain and nearly drained. After all he himself expressed his disappointment over this draw.

As an Indian what's good to see is first this draw; second the top and middle order is back in form; India can't loose the series now; Dhoni would probably be back for the final game.

Anyways, here are the analysis of the three departments in this game:

1. Batting - India: Very much neutral given the slump in the first innings and the strong comeback in the second innings. And as I have said, the middle order is fired up now that Yuvraj Singh is looking back in form. Sehwag was the only concern in this game, but I know leading India is not easy, and so he did have some pressure on him to anchor both the innings.

New Zealand: They still have some issues that are urgently needed to be rectified. The top still hasn't settled down. However, it was their middle order that not only helped them bounce from 23/3 to post a mammoth total of 619 runs but also has been a reason to cheer about. Ryder looks solid and to break at. Ross Taylor looked classy throughout his 151. Now even the captain himself is looking dangerous.

2. Bowling - India: Once the catches were dropped the New Zealand batsmen offered no resistance whatsoever. Ruthlessly they hammered the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. The Indian think-tank would surely be wondering how they can stop Ryder. Precisely speaking, I thought that it was only Zak and Ishant who looked good but the third seamer again seems to be troubling India. In my opinion India should try swapping Munaf with Balaji or maybe go in with a spinner which would mean Amit Mishra getting to play his first game. Whatever it really is, the sloppy fielding has definitely let the bowlers down.

New Zealand: First a superb bowling performance which ended the first three days of the game in their pockets. And the next two were disastrous. Again, sloppy fielding even from New Zealand helped India get away with a draw. Chris Martin was clearly the star of the attack and has probably justified his selection. Franklin looked dangerous, Vettori was at his usual best. O'Brien was speedy. So should I say Jeetan Patel was spinny? Ahoy!!! True indeed. But then what went wrong all of them in the second innings? Was it the solid defense of the batsmen or the disastrous catching?

3. Fielding - India: Extremely disappointing. A bunch of butter-fingers truly.

New Zealand: Their's wasn't to good as well. They dropped many sitters. The worst one was on the final day when Ian O'Brien dropped Gambhir. Though it wouldn't have hurt the Kiwis too much but the catch was simply a sitter which even I would have held on 9 out of 10 times.

Both the teams do have a lot to think. It seems that India will not give the Black Caps any hope and chance of drawing the series. If India let their golden series win after 40 years go down it would be a shame. While New Zealand have nothing to loose from here on, India won't like to go down in the final test match to as well as their golden series win after 40 years slip away.

I am really looking forward for the third match that will begin on 3rd April.

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Finally, the suspense is over. We will be having the IPL in South Africa but the only change is that the tournament is postponed by one week. Though the league is no more Indian Premier league and has become International Premier League, we will continue to enjoy all the matches on TV. The timings have been set as such so that the matches are broadcasted at 4 pm and 8 pm IST.
Many people are saying that the IPL has lost its Indian flavour. Yes, I feel so. But the IPL organisers and the BCCI will look forward to expand their fan following globally along with the franchises. The season one last year saw a good television viewership in South Africa. Moreover the Africans have given a good response to the longer version, so expect them to fill the stadiums. We will be witnessing the action on TV and as if me and my friends (Satya and Rishabh) would have gone to the stadiums to watch the matches. Well the matches had already been moved out of Delhi and now out of India.
IPL Chairman, Lalit Modi blames the weather conditions as the key factor, but there would surely been some econmic factors as well which have worked in the favour of South Africa.
Some people also say that this shifting would create a bad image of India in front of the world as of Pakistan. But I disagree with this, because any security lapse could have created this image and this shift has much of positives rather than negatives like-

• Incresing global fan following.
• Helps in giving domestic players an international exposure.
• Assuring total safety of players.

Road to IPL Season II has had so many hurdles and finally this latest one of shifting it out from India has probably deflated one of the wheels of the IPL vehicle. Now should I still call it Indian Premier League,English Premier League or probably South African Premier League?

You know why ? Just look at the points following below to understand my frustration and disappointment like many other Indians -

1. Player Values

Kevin Pietersen - $1.55 million - England

Andrew Flintoff - $1.55 million - England

Mahendera S Dhoni - $1 million - India

Even the icon players like Sachin, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj are receiving just about Rs 4.50 crores which are around $800000-900000 which of course is no comparison
to that of the new Bengaluru Team captain ,Kevin Pietersen.

2.Captaincy

Thanks to the above mentioned point about K.P.'s new role that made me stretch this topic of captaincy further. Does our Indian players have no knowledge of how to lead a side whatsoever? Or are the foreigners more brainy when it comes to this job ? Doesn't seem to be true, isn't it? At least not after looking at the current healthy situation of the Indian Cricket team.If this is not enough then here's another good example that would reprimand this thought that Indians are not capable of leading a side - Sourav Ganguly. Both of them have had the midas touch to lead India to victory. Recently, Mallya and Co. replaced Rahul Dravid with K.P. as the captain and they also made a remark that once K.P. is gone back to England...oops, I mean for his national duty(since IPL is likely going to be held in England), Kallis would become the leader of the pack. And the recent speculation of removing Ganguly from his job as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders is nearly true. And it does seem that the former Australian, John Buchanan who is now the coach of Kolkata Knight Riders would replace Dada with the Australian captain who also used to lead under his realm, Ricky Ponting. Soon we might Mukesh Ambani replacing Tendulkar with someone else. Though again, you just can't forget that if a team does remarkably well and gets into a habit of winning, it makes the job easier for the captain whosoever he is.

3.Foreign Coaches
Do we have any other team other than Mumbai Indians without a foreign coach? Let alone the franchises in IPL, do we presently have any international team(exceptions : South Africa and Australia) that doesn't have a single foreigner in their support staff?

We have seen over a decade or so and in fact we still are seeing teams like Saffas and Australia making merry with their local coaches and staff. So why can't have our local coaches in IPL as well ?

Conclusion

90% about IPL is foreign now including the crowd and all the points mentioned above. It's just those franchise owners and BCCI that make the remaining proportion.
Now tell me, is there any Desi Tadka which makes Indian Premier League Indian?

Think about it and do share with us anything Desi about IPL.

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This time he's in the news for being booted out of bar for drinking a lot.

Cricket Australia officials have already given Symonds a "last chance" warning over previous alcohol-related misdemeanors.

He was reportedly spotted at the Watt Bar at the Powerhouse in New Farm, Brisbane,where he was being asked by the security to leave.

For more news on this issue click here

It's time to bid adieu Shoaib Akthar as the controversial king.

Oh and probably it's all over for Andrew Symonds now. Isn't it ?

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Today I have two News, one is good and the other also can’t be called bad.

The good news is that the DLF IPL Season II will take place this summer and the other news is that it will not be held in India. The IPL might go to England, South Africa or even the Middle East and a decision on the venue shall be taken within a couple of days.

The BCCI officials, after the crucial meeting today, announced that the tournament fixtures and dates shall remain the same and all the matches shall begin at 4 pm or 8 pm IST no matter where they take place, all in the interest of the fans in India. Also, each team will be allotted a home ground and the Home and Away system shall be followed.

The board confirmed that all franchises had approved the program as having the IPL was most important.

Let’s hope that the 2009 Season of the IPL is remembered for the cricket and not the controversies that surrounded it!

101.3 McGain to de Villiers, 1 run, clipped off the legs to the long-leg region. 100 up for McGain. This is the worst economy rate in Test history.

Here's a look at his beautiful figures -

	Bowlers	O	M	R	W	Econ
	*BE McGain (lbg)	11.0	2	102	0	9.27		(0nb, 0w)						-

Yet again, India is showing their true domination and is near to tear all those records which suggests the smashing that previous Indian teams have received before in New Zealand. The bowling department has probably found a fitting bowling attack and especially the 3rd seamer in Munaf Patel. Tendulkar has probably blunted all those fingers pointing his retirement and form.

While on the other hand, the only bright rays of light for the Black Caps has been the all rounder, Jesse Ryder and Chris Martin's superb bowling. New Zealand nearly looks out of the game and they would now have to play the catch-up game in order to save the match.

Here's an extract from the day's play by cricinfo.com

Walk on
When Mahendra Singh Dhoni cut a wide delivery from Iain O'Brien, Ryder pulled off another athletic effort at gully, diving to his right this time, and claimed a low one-handed catch. Dhoni refused to walk, and was told by the crowd to "walk mate". Replays showed the ball might have touched the ground before reaching Ryder's hand. Dhoni was booed when the not-out decision was finally made. Three balls later, he went for a hook, gloved it, and walked right away. This time he was cheered.

Four for all
When Munaf Patel went down on his knee, and swept Daniel Vettori with one hand to the square-leg boundary to get off the mark, he became the ninth Indian batsman in the innings to start scoring with a boundary. Tendulkar and VVS Laxman started with one and two respectively.

Aren't we all waiting for the Indian Premier League to kick off. But there's some bad news - probably we won't have the tournament this year. Too much bad for us. You all must be knowing the reason- The 15th General Assembly Elections. We are below 18 and can't vote so it is bad for us. But I've realized that security is a must and there are many reasons for this-

1. States cannot provide adequate security and going ahed with the IPL would mean that we will be risking the lives of our cricketers and millions of cricket fans.

2. Any type of security leak would create an bad image to the world about India. Cricketers would refuse to play cricket in India as of current Pakistan.

3. It wold have an impact on the other sports as well. It might even cost us the prestigious Commonwealth games next year. When no sportsperson would be willing to to come to our nation, how would we host any game.


But there are disadvantages as well. IPL's second season is worth 10,790 crore rupees. It would have been economically well for India during the time of recession. But however I believe that not having the tournament this year would be better. Another thought that occured to me is that can't we shift the election dates, but then I realized that this is immpossible. So we are left with no other choice but to either shorten the IPL or cancel it for this year. Hope the IPL organisers come up with a perfect schedule that would ensure proper security.

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Hell ya !!! And we have another one joining in. Satya, you ROCK !!! So now, we are 3 cricket followers(me, Shanav, Satya) on a blog hitting one shot after another.

Satya is another of my classmate and our cricket talks has always been never ending. He's probably much more hilarious than me and his imagination goes far...far beyond, even to the distance of a ball being hit out of the stadium.

I welcome you Satya to Crick-O.

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Virender Sehwag has given another evidence that he has no pity on any bowler be it a spinner or a pacer. His work is to only hit the ball as hard as he can. He along with opening partner Gautam Gambhir led India to a memorable win in the fourth ODI against New Zealand. The red hot pair smashed an unbeaten 201 for the first wicket with Sehwag on 125 and Gambhir on 63. Hope they both continue their form in the future matches.

Earlier in the day New Zealand managed to 270/5 in their 47 overs. The bad weather distrupted the match once again and India were declared winners on the basis of the D/L method. Indian bowling did fairly well. Seamers were quite expensive but spinners managed to get wickets and stop the flow of runs. The pick of the bowlers was the comeback man - Ishant Sharma thogh expensive but he got 2 vital breakthroughs. The biggest disappointment for India was Harbhajan Singh with figures 8-0-50-0.

After winning the match India have aso clinched their first ever series win in New Zealand. Lets hope the next match is a bigger success for India. Happy Holi.

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The ICC Women's World Cup started on the eve of International Women's Day, making the event look a bit bigger success. Well lets hope the event is a huge success. In fact it is already turning out to be a huge success. Women are making it clear that they can play the gentlemen's game like them. Women can be seen anticipating the ball hard and diving more often. They are taking deep interest in the game and are giving 100% commitment.
Other than great action the women are also setting records. Pakistan registered their first ever win against Sri Lanka after losing horribly to India. On the opening day India beat Pakistan by 10 wickets. Australia defeated all their opponents as they are the favourites for the tournament. Earlier in the day India was defeated by England by 9 wickets. It clearly pointed that India still need more practice to face class opponents. I also feel that Women's cricket need's an overhaul. These matches are played at neutral venues and are compared to the u-19 men's cricket. So, women might probably have to wait more to experience world class facalities.


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Seems tough! Their main in-form bowler Ian Butler is on the bed and will be there for the whole series. Anyway, there's still one ray of light that has the power to spark and turn the game for the Kiwis - Daniel Vettori. And one more advantage for them is Tendulkar's injury. I guess that should be at least average to save the series. Other thing is that they have to work hard for victory. If they still can't, then all is lost for sure.

I wonder who would be in for Tendulkar ? Is it going to be Rohit Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Dinesh Karthik or maybe Ravindra Jadeja. My choice would be clearly Irfan Pathan as he would clearly add a bowling option as well as batting. This would create a balance as well. Also, it's time to get back Ishant back in side. And give some rest to Munaf.

I don't exactly know about the Black Caps when it comes to replacements and their squad as I am not a keen follower of them. Please suggest it yourself.

I would like to end this post with this quote by Rudyard Kipling from his poem 'If' which goes for both the teams :

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Then and only then would you achieve your golden aim - The Game!

It's just one of those Australia-South Africa games where 90% this is sure to happen. Though victory is still a far sight for the Saffas, but they have a good chance of getting away with a draw. Who expected such a great fight by South Africa lead by Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers ? I mean, of course there are great partnerships which take the game away from your opposition...but how often does it happen.

It would actually be a shame for the Aussies if they let go this chance out of their hands. Probably they were missing the services of McGain.

Whatever it is...the match is now slightly evenly poised. Australia still has the chance to bowl out South Africa while they face a daunting task of chasing 302 runs more to complete what would be known as a record chase or at least settle for the draw. I am pretty sure that if Kallis and De Villiers can stay together till at least mid session after lunch, Australia would have to settle for a draw.

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Tendulkar, Smith, Kallis, Ian Butler, and the latest one to join was the West Indian Chris Gayle. Sigh....with the level of fitness increasing I do hope to see these guys back in action(Ian Butler is back I guess).

Get Well Soon guys !

By the way, is there anyone else I missed out ? Please remind me by posting in the comments section.

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24.5 Johnson to Kallis, no run, do we have another injury here, not a pretty sight! Short on middle, struck Kallis on the jaw from under the helmet, he's in pain and is bleeding, the physio is out and it may take some time before he's back on his feet. Lethal delivery that.

2.1 Johnson to Smith, 1 run, ripper, banged in short at 150.9 kmph, raps him hard on the gloves and lobs in the direction of square leg, superb bowling

Are we going to see another Bodyline series with this time Australia on the giving end ? Anyway, the Proteas seem to have lost their way with the day 2 ending completely under Australia's control.

Who do you say ? Have the Aussies shown that they are still the best or does it still require some more time to prove it ?

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How often does a champion team like South Africa fall down like this ?-

0.3	Johnson to McKenzie, OUT, what a start for Australia, short of a length outside off and moved away, McKenzie tried to defend that off the back foot, got a thin edge to Haddin who took a good catch stretching to his right
	ND McKenzie c Haddin b Johnson 0 (1m 3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
South Africa 0/1 GC Smith 0* (0b) MG Johnson 0.3-0-0-1
0.5	Johnson to Amla, OUT, he's given him, the hosts are reeling here! Swung in sharply, landed on middle and leg and seemed to strike him in line, at least to the naked eye, as he tries to flick that away, Rauf raises his finger but Amla is not convinced. He's called for a referral, but replays suggest he is stone dead.
	HM Amla lbw b Johnson 0 (6m 2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
South Africa 0/2 GC Smith 0* (0b) MG Johnson 0.5-0-0-2
2.3	Johnson to Kallis, 1 run, short on middle, turns it away wide of midwicket for a single
	GC Smith retired hurt 2 (3b 0x4 0x6) SR: 66.66
South Africa 3/2 JH Kallis 1* (7b) MG Johnson 1.3-1-2-2
5.3	Hilfenhaus to de Villiers, OUT, they've gone silent again, this was absolutely plumb, landed on a good length on the off stump and cut back in sharply, de Villiers didn't anticipate that movement as he came forward to defend that on the off side, was rapped on the pads in front of middle. He knew he was out, didn't call for a referral. South Africa are in deep trouble now as Hilfenhaus joins the party
	AB de Villiers lbw b Hilfenhaus 3 (13m 8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 37.50

So it does seem like the search for my team mate is over with my own classmate and one of my best friend - Shanav Kakkar joining in as a writer. Though he told me that he won't be as regular as I am. But it doesn't matter to me. At least he's here to support me. I expect one of my another best friend to join in as well. Though he's a bit unsure.

Anyways, there have been a few changes made to the blog text(like - the 'Who's Online' has changed to 'Online Spectators') as you all can see.

From here on I...ooops...we would be getting back to cricket.

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Oh and finally I managed to watch the full game(I was suffering from severe fever so I didn't go to school today). Finally, it is a relieve on the face of the Indian fans as their team beat NZ by 53 runs(thanks to the D/L method).

The Kiwis looked totally helpless today. They were off colour and failed to make a mark in any of the department. The rain started to pour down heavily in Napier and the game was reduced to 38 overs a side. Viru was at his usual best. He hammered the bowlers all over the small ground. Tendulkar as I had said before wasn't really able to concentrate. After Tendulkar was out I, in fact most of those watching this game would have expected Gambhir at No.3. But the captain Dhoni promoted himself at that one of the most important slot and did wonders along with Sehwag who was later dismissed by the Black Caps captain Vettori. Then came Yuvraj in the middle who couldn't do much and was run out on a paltry 2 of 13 balls. Bringing himself(MSD) and his deputy at the top clearly showed the intentions of the Indians to go after the ball even in the middle overs. In my opinion that wasn't a good move. Number 3 and number 4 are that kind of positions which requires(and in fact gives them the power) the batsmen to control the pace of their team's innings. I would have preferred to bring either Raina or Gambhir at No.4 as this would have created a balance between aggressive hitting and singles and doubles. But Dhoni was in some other mood. He rather himself was first settling down by rotating strike with Raina who scored a solid 66 of just 39 balls which was the turning point of the Men in Blue's innings. India ended their batting with 273 runs on the board with the loss of 4 wickets at the average of 7.18 runs per over. Awesome ! Isn't it ?!

There was more to come. The hero for NZ in both the T20s - Brendon McCullum was caught for a duck. The scoreboard read 111-4 in 20.5 overs when it started to rain again. The match was now reduced to 28 overs and the new target set for the Black Caps was 216 runs. Perhaps, one would say that the rain made things difficult for the islanders. It surely did. The pressure revolved around Martin Guptill to score as quickly as possible. But the Indian bowlers, especially Harbhajan Singh had different ideas. The 24th over of the Kiwi innings was a dream over for Bhajji. He quickly dismissed Guptill, Neil Broom and Mills to reduce the New Zealand from 132-5 to 132-8. Soon it was all over for Vettori's men in black. They ended their run chase managing 162 runs with the loss of 9 wickets.

Finally, the Indian team seems to have settled down well and are reading the conditions well! There's a lot more to think for Vettori and his team.

India leads the series 1-0 winning the first game tonight.

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It's a very shameful act by those cowardly terrorists. This attack is only destroying Pakistan's image in international world. The SL team bus was on it's way to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore when all this happened. Five cricketers, including Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lankan captain, and his deputy Kumar Sangakkara, received minor injuries.The other 3 were Ajantha Mendis, Samaraweera and Paravitarana. According to cricinfo Samaraweera and Paravitarana were most seriously hurt. Pakistan is also to host Champions Trophy later this year which now seems impossible to happen. For the full coverage on this attack you can go here - Lahore terror attack cricket at Cricinfo

The tour has obviously been called off.

I pay heed to all the cricketers(and hope for their speedy recovery),other victims and their families.

You can also express your sorrow over here by posting in the comments section.


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On the back foot after twin Twenty20 losses to New Zealand, Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday said Sachin Tendulkar's return to the side has boosted the team's morale ahead of the one-day series.

"He is a great player. Not only from a batting or bowling point of view, if you see the amount of contribution he can make to the side from his experience is amazing. He changes the dressing room atmosphere completely," said Dhoni ahead of the day-night ODI series opener.

Dhoni said he cannot quantify Tendulkar's influence on the team and the opponents.[LINK]

Okay...agreed, Mr.Dhoni that he brings a lot of experience to this side. In fact it's very true,but, this set's a question on Tendulkar's retirement again. Though of course it's up to him to decide the time to set the curtains on his remarkable career! But give it a thought. Can't he be in the team as a mentor(or say a coach) rather than a plaayer. After all he isn't the previous Tendulkar of even 2003. He looks a bit loose nowadays.

I found him very shaky and he was living dangerously ever since when England came to India last year and series that followed. Clearly, I would say that it's time to retire from the shorter versions of the game. Although he is likely the most important member in the team during the test matches. India is going through a transaction period in test cricket - a format which is perhaps the toughest and requires a lot of patience(which of course, many young cricketers loose very early). So maybe one more year in the tests for Tendu.

But again...who are we to decide his retirement ?

Have your own thoughts about his retirement ? Feel free to share it in the comments section.

I was feeling pretty nervous even while changing the design and all that stuff. I was worried that maybe I'll do something wrong and BOOM !!! - I lost everything and screwed my blog like anything. But yesterday I got the real taste of what CSS and HTMl is all about. Though I have learnt the basic part of it before, this was surely a tester for me.

Anyway...I finally made it.

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